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Syrian charm
Overshadowed by the Iran war and the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, Syria has quietly stuck to its efforts to get reconstruction back on track.
President Ahmad Al Shara is in London having been in Berlin and his message is consistent. It would be fair, I think, to describe him as a man of sparse words. And careful. At a Chatham House session on Tuesday, he repeatedly requested the questions were asked again to clarify the precise meaning.
My takeaway is that Mr Al Shara feels heavily the responsibility of the exiles forced out of the country by the civil war that ended in December 2024.
Take one answer in Berlin. “It is impossible to discuss recovery and reconstruction without addressing the Syrians in Germany,” he said.
The final question Mr Al Shara faced at the Chatham House panel was on how he was going to get them home. His response was that their return is linked to Syria's reconstruction and cannot be a matter of just enticing people on to airplanes. More than 1.3 million people had already returned since the "spirit of belonging came back to the Syrian people".
Abdulaziz Almashi, head of the Syrian British Consortium, told The National that Mr Al Shara's visit was “significant for the Syrian community in the UK, which has built strong networks and remains deeply invested in Syria’s future".
Britain and Syria discussed full diplomatic relations, something that remains incomplete.
In the big picture, Damascus is also promoting a future energy transit role as a conduit to European markets.
Broadly, Mr Al Shara seeks a strategic network for Syria to exploit; not only friendly neighbours, but the big European and American economies. War in the region featured heavily in the official summary of the discussion and in the later public question session. "Those who have been in war know the value of peace," Mr Al Shara said.
Syria is officially neutral in the Iran war but does not hide its issues with Iran's role in sustaining the old regime.
“On the continuing conflict in the Middle East, they both affirmed the importance of avoiding further escalation and restoring stability in the region,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said after his meeting with Mr Al Shara.
“They discussed the need for a viable plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, in the face of the severe economic impact of prolonged closure, and agreed to work with others to restore freedom of navigation.”
On the ground
Britain is sending its most up-to-date short-range air defence system to Saudi Arabia in the latest package of support for Arabian Gulf countries.
The Sky Sabre has a range of 25km and can engage 24 projectiles simultaneously.
A Royal Artillery battery and Sky Sabre operators are to move into Saudi Arabian bases this week. The reinforcement was announced on a regional tour by John Healey, the Defence Secretary, that wrapped up Tuesday.
The defence system comprises radar, a control node, missile launchers, and intercept munitions and aircraft. The system is capable of stopping aircraft, drones and laser-guided bombs using the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile, travelling at more than 3,700kph.
Still, Pete Hegseth, Mr Healey's US counterpart, said the UK's failure to send ships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was an abandonment of a proud national record. “Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy,” said Mr Hegseth.
In posts on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump attacked Britain for refusing “to get involved in the decapitation of Iran” and called France “unhelpful” for not allowing military aircraft bound for Israel to fly in its airspace.
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself," Mr Trump wrote.
Ambassadors to the UK from the affected Gulf countries are eager to sustain British support for their battle to take down incoming projectiles.
Reality check
One of Britain's most distinguished soldiers has some brass-tack thoughts on where this war goes. “The world has got to come to terms with the fact that there is the only solution, and it would be a major but limited ground operation,” says Gen Sir David Richards, the head of the armed forces between 2010 and 2013.
French and UK officials have separately talked in recent weeks of bringing together dozens of countries in a naval convoy plan to ensure shipping resumes across the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway carries up to a fifth of global daily oil supplies in normal times and 100 ocean-going vessels were passing through every day before the Iran War started on February 28. America has moved Marines and Airborne into the Centcom theatre throughout March.
“We need to be coming up with a strategy that makes our intent absolutely clear,” Gen Richards said. “It’s a much bigger military effort than two brigades of American marines and airborne, as you need to do a proper job.”
The multinational Hormuz operation would also focus narrowly on securing maritime routes rather than regime change in Tehran. “It will need a limited use of ground troops along the littoral [coastal] areas in order to restore freedom of navigation,” said the general, who was born on an RAF base in Egypt.
War's timelines
How often over the last month and few days has Mr Trump indicated that he was about to declare victory and wind it up? Late Tuesday he gave a two or three week deadline.
Certainly, the markets have believed this shifting story. Hence the failure to start a sell-off that is justifiable now but also could have taken place in early March.
Which brings me to the role of time itself. Time gives us perspective. It governs how we measure. Emotions are calibrated through our time calculus
Mental processes take all our information and patch it across time in individual ways.
Which is why, from the Doomsday Clock to the hour change, time plays a significant role. For anyone caught up in a war, perception of time is one of the most significant changes that accompanies the dangers.
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